(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) The Washington Capitals used an overtime Game 7 goal from Joel Ward to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup Champions

After six hard fought one goal games it shouldn’t shock anyone that thanks to overtime for the fourth time in the series, Game 7 was a one goal game, unfortunately for the Bruins, it’s the last one goal game they will play this season.

Joel Ward scored 2:57 into overtime as the Washington Capitals dethroned the defending Stanley Cup Champions in their own building.

“I went for a change and Knubs [Mike Knuble] made a big block there and I assumed we had a little bit of a break up ice so try to take a chance and I knew he was going to take it to the rack and I just tried to follow it up as best as I could” said Ward. “You know, I just saw the puck laying there and I just took a whack at it and it went in.”

It may be hard to accept, but quite frankly the Capitals were the better team in the seven game series.

The Bruins had their chances to punch their ticket into the second round, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances.  Patrice Bergeron had the best chance in the extra frame for the Bruins, but Bergeron couldn’t get the puck to settle.

“It kind of exploded – just rolled on my stick and the puck was bouncing I just tried to go quick because obviously there wasn’t a lot of time and the puck wouldn’t settle” said Bergeron.

The big story in this series was the play of rookie goalie Braden Holtby. No one knew what to expect from the 22-year-old as he settled in for his first career NHL playoff series, but there’s no doubt the kid stole the show.

“It’s my first ever and it feels good to be in the celebration instead of watching it, that’s for sure” said Holtby.

Another key to the series was the Bruins power play, or other words, a lack of. The B’s finished the series 2-23 with the man advantage.  None bigger the one the Bruins failed to score on very late in the third period.

“Yeah, it was. When you talk about tonight, that’s probably the most frustrating part of our game, was that power play that could have ended the series and the game. But, I guess, when you look at the whole picture, I think it was more than that” said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. “At the end of the series, you look at their team, and you look at ours, and they were the better team. They had more guys going than we did, and they played us tough. It was unfortunate that we’ve got to look at this one incident because it did play a big role in tonight, but a lot of the damage had been done before that as well.”

The Bruins have some big decisions to make this offseason as guys like Tuukka Rask, Daniel Pallie, Chris Kelly and a few others are free agents, while guys like Ryan Spooner, Jared Knight, and Dougie Hamilton are certain to fight for a roster spot come training camp.

For the last time this season here is some post game video from inside the Bruins locker room: